A journey to remember
by Snowflake5
Summary: The bladebreakers are on their way to take some well-earned vacations, when their plane crashs...
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Not mine…

A journey to remember

**Beginning of a journey**

It was a clear and cold afternoon, two weeks after the World Championchips. The Bladebreakers had been staying in Russia, sightseeing and – of course – beyblading. Well, as long as either Takao wasn't whining about how hungry he was or Kenny wasn't complaining about the freezing temperatures. 

Max was beeing his usual sunny self, feeling really great and enjoying his free time, while Ray was almost completly healthy again. Kai was slowly coming out of his icy shell, however it was indeed very, very slowly. 

"You need to concentrate more, Takao." ,he simply stated, his blade landing in his outstreched palm, while Takao was picking his up from the ground. 

Takao took his loss with a grin, "Ah, well, ... there's no big tournament coming up, so I guess, I'm not that focused, after all."

"You should be." 

Kai turned around and stopped to lean against the wall a few metres away. Closing his eyes he signaled this conversation was over. 

Kenny never heard anything of it, he was to busy typing away on his beloved laptop to notice anything, Max and Ray simply shrugged it off. 

"Ah, man, you'd think he was an iceberg or something." ,Takao was shaking his head. 

"Nothing out of the ordinary." ,Max said.

Kenny pulled his three layers of coats tighter around his small form. Actually, he was huddled in a corner of the huge training room, close to the heater and shivering. 

"G-g-g-g-guys, c-c-ca-can't y-you hu-hu-hurry up-p?"

And everyone spared him a pitying glance, only Kai glared at him through one eye. 

"Training shouldn't be rushed up." 

Max was sure, Kenny was close to crying although his eyes couldn't be seen. "Come on, man." ,Takao argued, "We've done enough for today. No need to stress it."

Max simply nodded.

Kai opened both eyes to glare at them.

Before an argument could ensue, Rei spoke up. 

"Whether you have or not, I believe you three still have to pack. And if you don't start now, we'll miss our plane later."

He gave them a mischievous smile. Max understood at once and the question what could take them five hours to pack their luggage was never raised. Probably, because it was highly possible that Takao would really need five hours. 

"And Kai, if you'd like to continue training, I've already packed my stuff, so I've got some time." 

"You're sure, you're up to this, Rei?"  Takao asked with sudden concern. 

"Ta-takao's r-right, you kn-know." ,Kenny added.

Inside Rei was mildly annoyed. True, he had been hurt quite badly, however that was bygone. The doctors had instructed him to do nothing strenuous, but some exercises couldn't hurt. Actually, he had already taken up to practizing material arts again; early in the mornings before everyone else woke up. 

Had Takao and Max gotten their way, he probably still would be spending half of the days in bed, 'resting'. 

"Hey, I've got to train, too, don't I?" ,he asked lightly. 

Kenny grudgingly accepted this answer. 

"Very well." ,Kai said solemnly and made everyone jump. They had completely forgotten about him. 

He would never admit it aloud, but he was actually glad that Rei had offered to battle. One reason was of course, that Rei really had to start training again. The major reason was, that Kai himself felt that he needed to train more. Not only training on his own, but improving his battle skills. It had all been so easy, when he had Black Dranzer... 

Now victory wasn't easy to achieve, neither was perfection. 

And although many people believed, now, that Voltaire was out of his life, he wouldn't be as ambitious, he still wanted to become the perfect blader. 

Batteling with Max or Takao in the last few days hadn't been a task. Both hadn't put any true effort in it, so winning was predestinied.  Kai hoped, that Rei would be concentrated. 

"You can leave." ,he said in the direction of Takao. 

Their presence certainly wouldn't be doing anything good for anyone's nerves. 

Takao hmphed and stalked away, muttering some not too nice things about having an icecube for captain. Kenny hurried after him and Max only stopped to pat Rei's shoulder, add "Take it easy.", and left the room, too. 

Kenny was shivering badly until they finally arrived their nicely furnitured hotel rooms. Max was slightly worried. "You're okay?" ,he asked and received a slight nod from Kenny. 

"Yes... And although Russia is a fine place, I'll be very happy when we're finally in a warmer country."

"Ah..." ,Max sighed, "I can't believe it. We're already leaving tonight. Man, those four weeks passed like a second, it all went by so fast. It feels like it was yesterday that we won the Championships."

"I definitely agree with you, Max." ,Kenny said.

Takao flopped down on his bed. "Man, you guys sound like you're nostalgic. Not even my grandpa is that bad..."

Max giggled slightly. "Don't tell me, you're not emotional about this. We know you better than that, Takao, trust me." 

"Yes, I admit, I am emotionally touched." ,Takao said in a perfect imitation of Kai's voice and caused a round of friendly laughter to warm the room even more. Kenny was slowly peeling of his cocoon layer by layer. 

"How come you're always picking on Kai?" ,Max asked, as the laughter subsided, leaving a light-hearted and open atmosphere in the room.

"Well...",Takao started, "First, his whole behaviour is just asking for it. Second, it's really funny seeing him trying to glare somebody dead. ... And third, when he snaps, he's at least not that antisocial anymore."

"True, true." ,Max agreed, grinning, "..Though he changed. Not too much, but a bit."

"A very small, tiny bit." ,Takao insisted, "He's still an icecube."

"Well, then probably flying to warmer place will help." ,Dizzy decided to join the conversation. 

Not for long, because their minds were quickly occupied with their holiday trip to Australia. 

Only five hours and quite a long flight away. 

Or so they thought.

Night had already fallen, when the small group finally arrived at the airport. The cab ride had been strangely quiet and even Max wasn't purely happy for once. Kai stepped out, breathing the chilling cold air for one last time, allowing himself a sentimental moment, watching snowflakes drift through the air, past the other cars and covering the ground. Soft crunching noises told him the others were also getting out. 

Takao stopped beside him, turned around once more and said: "Goodbye Russia." 

Then he shivered, started cursing the cold and left to grab his luggage and scuffle inside. Kai allowed him a small smile, wondering if Takao had any idea what his simple phrase meant to him. 

"I'm not only leaving a country." ,he realized, "I'm leaving my old life."

He took one more look at the frozen landscape before turning around. 

Kenny, Max and Takao were already on the warm inside, waiting impatiently for Rei and Kai to join them. Rei was walking unusually slowly. 

'No surprise there.',Kai thought. He had been battling with Rei for at least three hours and well, it had been quite fierce. Short, the strain on the healing injuries had probably been to great. 

Kai sighed and caught up with Rei. 

"Give me your luggage." ,he demanded. 

Rei shook his head firmly, although he was panting slightly. "No, tha..."

Kai was in no mood for arguments that evening, so he simply seized Rei's back and walked away. 

"Can't believe it." ,Takao muttered, "Mr. Sourpuss actually cares..." 

"Max told you he changed." ,replied Kenny, completely oblivious to Takao's irony. 

"Ah, boys, there you are!" ,somebody exclaimed, making everyone in the impressive airport terminal turn around before going back to their business. 

"Oh, hi Mr.Dickinson." ,Max greeted friendly, sporting a disturbingly huge smile. 

"Hi, nice to see you again." ,Kenny agreed, while Takao was already running up to their inofficial tutor. 

They were chatting away, when the whole team finally came together. 

"So you've all been doing fine?" ,Mr.Dickinson asked, "Ready for some holidays?"

"Always, always!", Takao agreed wholeheartedly, "Especially if it involves a lot of food." 

That got everyone laughing. 

"I actually wanted to tell you once again, that you were performing very well. However, try to improve your teamwork. You never know, when you'll need it." ,Mr.Dickinson said, winking. 

After another hour of amiable talking, they were finally forced to leave. 

Max, Takao and Kenny were still pondering how fast time had went by and how exciting everything had been. Rei certainly would have been also involved in their conversation, had he not been asleep on his feet. Kai kept to himself, naturally. 

It wouldn't suit him to add somethink like, "It has been such a beautiful time...". 

On the other hand the look on Takao's face would certainly be priceless. 

Then again... somebody had to make sure, they would get on the correct plane. 

And that was, when his senses picked up something strange. Instead of a usual jumbo, there was a very small and old plane. His thoughts were speeding up again. 

Probably it was only the light or the lack thereof which made the plane appear rather ragged. Still, it was suspiciously small. 

Standing there alone on the huge, snow covered airport grounds, while the snow kept falling.

He glanced towards Rei to discover that he, too, was frowning. 

"Somebody was obviously very greedy." ,Takao stated, not really minding what he was seeing. After a long day he was by now tired and hungry. One meal, after that he'd go straight to sleep. And nobody and nothing would stop him. 

Kai tried to reason with himself, that Takao's assumption was correct. However, something made a shiver crawl down his spine. There was something about that plane, that wasn't right. He couldn't quite place it, but the closer he looked, the more intense his dreading feeling grew. 

Probably he was only being paranoid. 

Imagining things. 

That would only be logical. He was weary. It had been a tiring day after all, although he would never say that out loud. 

He was about to turn around, when the drifting snowflakes parted slightly to let him catch a glimpse of a very familar logo painted on the side of the plane. 

Kai did not twitch. Neither did he jump. He tensed his muscles and turned around. "Rei?" , he called out to his half asleep teammate. 

Half-closed golden eyes looked back at him, asking an unspoken question. 

"Could you come over for a minute?"

There was no way, Rei would ever refuse such a serious request. No matter, how tired he was, he got up and staggered over to Kai. 

Snow and darkness had once again claimed the logo away from Kai's prying eyes. Darkness however would give Rei, with his cat-like abilities, no problems. 

"Can you decipher the logo on the side of the plane?" ,Kai asked. 

There was no question why, Rei simply accepted the request and stepped closer to the window. Trying to see through darkness took some concentration from him and the additional snowstorm wasn't helping. Neither was the fact that his eyes actually refused to stay open. 

Rei needed a minute to focus. 

"It's... some sort of a globe..." ,he murmured. 

His head started throbbing. Kai only nodded. That neither confirmed nor denied his suspicion. 

Rey's pupils became even smaller. The snow was getting in his vision. 

He concentrated more. 

"It's green... As if there was some sort of leaf... and there's something written beneath..." 

Kai's breath caught in his throat. That was absolutely no good. 

"Guys, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" ,Takao yelled, while dragging a dozing Kenny behind him on the plane. Max was following on his heels. 

"Stupid snow..." ,Rei mumbled, his voice slurred. 

The flakes were getting bigger and bigger, occuping his vision almost completely, making him feel lightheaded. 

Kai frowned and reclutantly concluded, that they should board the plane. 

After all, there was no real proof for his suspicions. 

He turned to Rei, who was still highly focused on the outside, however his eyes were glazed over and he was swaying on his feet. Obviously without realizing it. 

Kai grabbed his luggage for the second time of the evening and turned to Rei. 

"Let's go."

Voltaire Hiwatari's gaze drifted over to the ancient grandfather clock decorating his office. 

"They should be leaving about now..." ,he noted.

A malicious smirk crossed his features. 

"I hope they'll enjoy the little surprise." 


	2. Crash

Disclaimer: Not mine… 

A journey to remember

**2.  Plane crash**

The flight had been uneventful so far. Thoroughly uneventful. Takao had fallen asleep after eating everything he could find and was keeping Kai awake with his snoring. 

Max was sleeping to, as far as Kai could tell, because nothing was seen or heard from him. Soft klicking noises told him Kenny was awake, although not a single world was heard from Dizzy. Actually, Dizzy was talking quite a lot. But Kenny concluded, that his teammates when wanting to sleep would do everything to shut Dizzy up. 

In consequence headphones became quite handy. 

Kai couldn't find any sleep. 

His discovery had left him restless and everything else so far hadn't helped to calm him. It had of course been a relief for him to find out they weren't the only passangers on this plane. They were about twenty alltogether – not very much. 

Obviously who ever booked this flight had been more than just greedy. There wasn't any service on board. Some snacks and drinks were placed in some sort of closet and that was all. No personal running around, making sure the passangers were comfortable and everything was running smoothly. Neither had a word been heard from the captain. 

But nobody seemed disturbed by that so Kai choose not to mention it. 

Still, he couldn't close his eyes for longer than two minutes. 

Not for the first time in his life he longed to be able to take things easier. 

Or be able to simply shrug off any mysteries. 

But, alas, he wasn't. 

Even though he realized, that all the thinking wasn't helping him in the least. Even if he considered his suspicion confirmed – 

- if it had really been the Biovolt logo painted on the plane – 

What would that mean?

Most probably something bad. 

And something bad was far away from being an exact description.

After all, there was no proof. 

Kai sighed and shifted in his seat. This was getting him nowhere. He only succeed in making himself restless. It was actually quite a surprise, that he hadn't woken anybody yet with all his movements. 

On the other hand – Takao was out like a light, nothing would wake him now. Rei had been exhausted and Max, well, ...

"Can't find any sleep, too?" 

Well, Max wasn't asleep after all. 

"No." ,Kai stated. 

"Me neither. With Takao's snoring here – I'm surprised no one complained yet." ,Max said, trying to start a conversation. Kai supposed, that talking might be better than pondering once more – even if he wasn't in the mood. 

"Hn." 

Kai mentally scolded himself. That had certainly been the most original reply he had ever given. Especially, when wanting to signal he was interested in conversing. 

Max however wasn't fazed. He grinned. "I just knew it was stupid to have that soda back at the airport. Should have known I wouldn't find any sleep."

'I wouldn't either.' ,Kai thought. 

"I believe you had about five cans of soda..."

"Ah, one more or less..." 

"..."

"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it?"

"I suppose so." ,Kai agreed reclutantly. 

Max smiled. "So, what are you planning to do once we arrive? I really want to try out surfing. I already did it once or twice but that was way back, when I was visiting my mom... I haven't been standing on a board for seven years or something."

Kai shrugged and glanced out of the window. 

"I don't know." ,he said. 

"What?" ,Max was genuinely surprised. 

"I haven't thought about it yet." ,Kai admitted, supposing no harm would come from telling that. In fact, he had no idea what he wanted to do. His former holidays had involved a lot of training, but this time...

he had had to promise Mr. Dickinson to train only once in two days, maximum. 

And that left Kai with unusually much free time. 

"Oh..." ,Max noted the shadow crossing Kai's features before deciding to ignore it, "Ah, there are a lot of things you can do. Just wait until we arrive. It's going to be a lot of fun. .. You could join me at surfing – it's exhausting in the beginning, but it's truly worth it. Or you could try snorkelling; everyone says that's great. ... Well of course you can also play beachvolley and do all those sorts of sport."

Kai simply nodded not sure if he would find something appealing. Or something where he wouldn't ridicule himself...

A sudden shudder went through the plane. Max was almost thrown out of his seat and Kai was suddenly wide awake. The engines sputtered. 

"What's that?" ,Max cried, fear and confusion marring his face, a squeal was heard from Kenny. The plane shook again, rougher this time. 

Cries sounded through the plane, bags were falling out of the overhead compartments. Kai was knocked back into his seat, while Max tumbled on the floor. 

This time the plane didn't stop shaking. The soft humming of the engines did not return. It was ungodly silent. 

Max felt his blood freezing. He did not want to understand the meaning of this. That wasn't just happening. This... this had to be nightmare. 

A high pitched scream started the panic. 

Kai blinked, his face still expressionless. No one had ever prepared him for a situation like this. What was he supposed to do now?

The movements got rougher and rougher, people were running around blindly, if they were able to move, others curled up in their seats, started crying, praying and cursing. Kai watched impassively, as a heavy bag fell out of an overhead compartment a few metres away from him and hit a young woman's head. She dropped down like dead. 

She probably was, Kai realized. 

"What's going on?" ,Rei asked softly, his eyes still closed. Kai would never have heard it, hadn't he been sitting right next to him. Before he could answer Takao yelled loudly. 

"What the hell is happening?!"

"W-w-we... we are going down..." ,Kenny choked out. 

At once, five heads turned to the windows only to find their worst fears confirmed. They were loosing height at a frightening speed. 

"Oh my god..." ,Max whispered, being unable comprehend. 

"What should we do? There's got to be something we can do! I don't want to die like this! We've got to something! Aren't there any parachutes on this plane? Or can't we just land somewhere? There's got to be a way!" ,Takao shrieked. 

Another rough jerk went through the plane, making the metall screech and sending everyone to the ground. The shaking went from bad to worse, standing wasn't possible, the screams were getting louder. 

A sickening crunch was heard and in the next moment, Kenny was hanging limply in his seat. A trail of blood was slowly oozing down his cheek. 

"Kenny!" , Max screamed, shocked and devestated, fearing the worst. He scrambled forward, only to be brutally thrown to floor again. Desperation was seeping into his heart. 

Rei tried to straighten up, wanting to help as much as he could. Even though deep in the back of his mind he realized it would be a futile attempt. 

"Guys, calm down!" ,he yelled, trying his best to keep his voice steady. 

The plane tumbled to the left side, sending Max flying head- on into another row of seats. More and more blood could be seen. 

"Calm down?"  Takao was becoming hysterical. 

"Calm down? Now? You've got to..." 

He never got to complete the sentence because the next blow left them all unconscious. 

And the plane tumbled down...

Okay... please R&R, I'd really appreciate it


	3. Adjusting

Disclaimer: Not mine…

A journey to remember

3. Adjusting to the situation

When had his bed become that hard? Why couldn't he move freely? Why was his back throbbing that much and why couldn't he feel his left arm? Other than that it was completely numb? 

A lot of questions were wandering through Takao's mind in his half-awake state. There were slight noises; the rusteling of leaves and birds singing. Also something that reminded him of an open fire...

'Strange.'

There was nothing wrong with the birds, but they sounded really close. As if they were in the same room. Or somebody had left the window open. 

The wind was certainly also coming from there. 

But if it was morning – why was there no light coming through his half-closed lids?

He groaned realizing that he had to open his eyes. 

Better before Rei pulled the red chili trick again. 

Or Max threatened him with taking away all the food – that had been downright evil.

But... 

Max...

Something in Takao's brain stirred. 

He had no good feeling in his gut. Creepy. 

Hadn't they been on a plane?

A shiver went down Takao's spine. The memories flooded back to him; hit him like a punch in the stomach. His eyes fluttered wide-open, seeing only a starry sky. He sat up, a wave of pain rolling over him. His vision was blurring, his left side hurt as if a fire was raging there. He gasped for air, sweat rolling down his forehead. 

Gradually his vision cleared and all he could do was stare helplessly. The plane was shredded, brutally maimed to chunks of metall. What had once been a relatively comfortable inside was now strewn all over the wide plain. Smoke was slowly rising into the sky, fires were blazing here and there. He could make out bags, suitcases, seats and – to his absolute horror – limp forms of people. Lying unmoving, twisted in horrible angles no human being could ever survive... 

Takao's stomach protested. He felt sick.

But he couldn't close his eyes. Not before he found out what had happened to his friends. Cold dread was building up inside him. He was unwilling to look. 

Frightened to find them dead, possibly injured beyond recognition. 

He shuddered and pushed the image away, far away, and hoping with all his optimism that they were okay. 

'Please, god, please...', he prayed silently before letting his gaze wander around a second time. 

His eyes caught sight of an unmoving figure not far from him. Blond hair was shining softly in the moonlight, giving the scene a twisted sense of peace. 

Takao's eyes widened. He scrambled over, cutting himself in the process. But he didn't even notice; nothing mattered to him other than his friend. 

The continuing silence was awful, bringing the most terrible ideas to his mind. 

"Max?" ,Takao uttered, his voice shaking badly. 

No response came from his friend and Takao fought the uprising panic within himself. "Max?!" ,he squeaked again, now sounding like a hysterical girl. He strechted out, wanting to pat Max on the shoulder, to shake him awake – 

- and stopped when his finger touched fluid. 

Red fluid. 

Blood. 

"No..." ,he whispered, "No..." 

It couldn't be. Not just like that...

'Not true... It isn't true. Just a dream. A nightmare, only a nightmare. Yes, yes, a nightmare...' ,he told himself over and over. And couldn't find it within himself to believe it. 

'It's not... Can't be... Unreal... but, no, not real. Really not real. Really... but ... but.... why... why can't I wake up... No, no, unreal, - real – unreal, unreal-'

His mind snapped. 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MAAAAAAX!"

"Takao?" 

Takao whipped around, pure horror written across his features, although somewhere deep down he recognized that voice. 

But no one was there. 

Was he imagining things?

"... who?" ,he muttered, sounding badly frightened. 

"Over here." ,it was soft, sounding odd, as if coming form somewhere beneath the rubble. 

"Kai? Where are you?" ,Takao asked, his mind blocking out every other thought. He fully concentrated on this little straw, ignoring the limp body of his best friend just behind him. He took some steps, just trying to follow the voice. 

"You're close." ,Kai said, "Can you help me lift that?"

A huge piece of rubble near to Takao rattled, making him jump before hurrying over. Takao pushed the heavy plate with all his strenght. He felt Kai pressing too and finally they managed moving it aside. Takao was panting, and Kai seemed equally exhausted. Perisperation was shimmering on his forehead. 

The silence between them strechted. 

"You're okay?" ,Kai asked, trying to get up sowly. 

Takao nodded, dumbfounded for a moment, before he found his voice again. "Yes, yeah, I guess, I'm alright. Only some minor scratches. How 'bout you?" 

Kai did not respond at once. He was slowly flexing his muscles, testing his bones. As far as he could tell, no serious harm had come to him. Although a throubbing pain was threatening to split his skull and was making him feel dizzy. He guessed something had connected with his head rather roughly.

"Kai?"  

"Seems like I'm okay." ,Kai answered, "But you've got a rather nasty cut on your cheek there. Better take care of it."

Takao's hand rose up and he was surprised when it came back covered in blood. A nasty cut indeed. Funny though, that he wasn't feeling anything. Hopefully it wouldn't become infected – but before he would look after himself, there were still his friends. 

"Do you... We should..." ,Takao started, unable to find the right words, "The others."

Kai understood. His gaze drifted over the scene once, before turning back to Takao. 

"You haven't seen anybody?" ,he asked calmly. 

However deep down on the inside Kai was starting to worry. Even though he had denied the worth of friendship for so long, it was a strange thought to lose those persons. 

Takao's heartbeat sped up. The image of Max lying face down on the ground returned to him. He felt the blood leaving his head. 

"Ah... I... well, I found... Max... although..."

Kai's eyes widened slightly. An unknown feeling passed through him, making him shudder involuntarily. "Dead? ...  I mean, did you check his pulse?"

Takao shook his head. 

"You should." ,Kai advised, "Then come back and help me look for Rei an Kenny. They should be nearby."

Takao didn't need to be told that twice. He turned on his heels and staggered back. Praying silently not to step onto anything human and flinching everytime something crunched beneath his feat.

Kai took a minute to ponder what he was feeling. Was he truly worried? And more importantly, where was he? As far as he could remember they had been flying for about four hours already, before the engines had failed. 

Failed?

Sabotage?

Had it been a Biovolt plane after all?

Had it all beem planned?

'In the end' ,he concluded, 'These speculations are just as useless as they were before.'

So he pushed all those open questions far away for now and surveyed the area around him. Metall pieces of different sizes where strewn all over the ground. Bags could be seen in between. But almost no trace of human beings. 

Rei had been seated next to him. So he probably was burried somewhere benath the rubble. Kai frowned. The chances weren't good. 

Slowly he started pushing away some other of the huge plates. Although he was quite well trained, he was sweating within a few seconds. 

Takao was returning. As far as Kai could tell from the firm, hastened sound of his steps, Max was still alive. And hopefully stable until they had found their other two comrades. 

"How is he?" ,Kai asked without turning around. Lifting this one huge piece of rubble was taking up all his concentration at the moment. 

"Not fine, but okay. He pulse was, at least." ,Takao replied, "Wait, I'll help you with that thing."

They were successful. And greeted with a not too pretty sight.

Done. 

Sorry I haven't updated any sooner, but I probably will only be able to post at weekends because... well, I just don't have the time...


End file.
